Chewy Chocolate Crinkles

Time to get out all of the baking sheets, mixing bowls, measuring spoons and the big bottle of vanilla extract! You know – it’s Christmas Cookie time!

My Mom always had this idea that we should eat a healthy diet, so for the majority of year, we really didn’t get a lot of sweets. I know it sounds crazy, but we had to get by on stuff made with whole wheat flour, raw sugar and carob powder.

Then came Christmastime and all bets were off – Mom baked mountains of all our favorites and for a few blissful weeks we could be as unhealthy as everyone else we knew. My recipe box is still full of recipes for the old Christmas standbys, all in my Mom’s handwriting, or typed out with her handwritten additions in the margins.

And now, my own personal notes about the recipes are scribbled alongside hers, as through the years I have built on the foundation of her efforts. Even though I don’t really need to look at those sheets so much anymore, because most of the recipes are on one of my blogs, or readily available online, I still get them out every year, running my hands over them to smooth out the folds as I read them over and get started on planning my baking.

Chocolate Crinkles were always a favorite. I think it must be the burst of powdered sugar that gets all over everything when you bite into one, along with the rich flavors of chocolate and toasted walnuts. You use Dutch processed cocoa in these – deep, full flavor! That means you need to use baking powder because Dutch processed cocoa has had the acid removed. Most grocery stores carry Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa now, along with numerous other brands,so it is not difficult to find.

7 thoughts on “Chewy Chocolate Crinkles”

I don’t know how I missed these – they look wonderful! When I was a kid it was pretty rare for us to have sweets, but Christmas was always an exception. My mom baked tons of cookies! I loved it. And I wish she had made these – they look wonderful, and I always like a chewy cookie. Really nice recipe – thanks.

Thank you for the wonderful and tasty recipe, that 8 minutes cooking time was the golden tip I have been looking for my whole baking life! They came out of the oven beautifully, plump and soft and cool down to moist and chewy crinkles. I did add several teaspoons of ground coffee powder to the mix which gave a bittersweet taste. Overall very happy, I will continue to use this recipe for special occassions!!